It’s great to be with the Calgary Stampeders. They’re having a great season, they’re 6-1, and they’re playing some great football.

They’ve got a very good D corps and the defence is doing some great things. I’m just trying to step in and do whatever I can to make the defence even better.

I love the opportunity to play in a league that’s already established, has a long tradition and a great fan following. It’s a serious game, but it’s also fun. I’m looking forward to it.

Of course, it’s a bigger field and a bigger end-zone here but having that 12th man on the field makes it seem more like regular size. At the end of the day, it’s still football.

People may know that I got into some legal trouble back in 2006 and because of that I had the misfortune of missing the entire 2007 football season. It was just a case of me being stupid. Not being smart. Not being mature. Not appreciating that I was a professional ballplayer. Having the game taken away from me helped me get more focused and to take the game a little more seriously.

Away from the football field, I started the Humble Grind Foundation in 2007. It’s geared towards teaching life skills to adolescents — kids from age 12 all the way up to 18. It’s all about teaching them anything they might need in life — filling out a resume, helping them out with a career choice early in life so that when it comes time to go to college or a technical school, they won’t be unprepared for the regular world.

We do a couple of events each year, with a football camp and an annual community fun day that’s geared towards fitness. We have moonwalks (inflatable bounce houses), a DJ and there’s a life-skills coach who comes out. The police and firefighters also come out to help us. We also had the opportunity to work with the City of Atlanta and work to raise money to help refurbish some parts of the city. We’re doing a lot of great things and we want to do even more.

We’re looking at setting up a Twitter account and a Facebook page to let people know what’s going on.

The name of the foundation comes from football coaches who say you’ve got to grind every day. Waking up early, going to practice, getting in the ice tube and physically and mentally preparing for the grind. At the same time, you have to appreciate things and be humble. So that’s where we came up with the name — you’ve got to go through the grind, stay humble and everything will work out.

Ahmad Carroll, #8
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>> Learn more about Ahmad Carroll’s Humble Grind Foundation